.xc and orchards and IKEA.

i miss certain things today.

i miss MISS KIRSTIE RAE. and the way she can drink more than one pot of tea by herself. i miss how she and Stephanie talk together-just like they know what the other is going to say. i miss her adorable little house. i miss her adorable little room. i miss her love for San Pellegrino. and Dickens. and letters. i miss the way she woke up early to milk the goats (she is the BEST goat-milker i.n.e.v.e.r.). i miss her O so much. i just do.

i miss TOMATOES. i haven’t had tomatoes in forever. and i know it sounds silly, but i ♥ tomatoes. i miss them.

i miss the WINTER. the snow. the cold. the wearing tights and sweaters and coats. putting on argle socks. shuffling around in boots and slippers. bundling up in plaid scarves. blowing on cold fingers. actually having cold feet. i want that so badly. i’m tired of the heat. tired of hot feet.

i want certain things today.

i want to write in my NOVEL. i want to feel the words roll off my tongue and laugh at what i say. i want to smile because i like it. i want to feel like i accomplished something good by reading what i write.

i want to eat another of Lala mia’s DOUBLE CHOCOLATE WHITE CHOCOLATE CINNAMON COOKIES. no explanation needed.

i want to finish CECILY. i’m almost done. 50 pages left exactly.

i want the XC SEASON to start. i want to go to the first meet. in my jeans. and take pictures. and cheer. and bring cookies. and watch everyone run.run.run.run. i want to smile at all the runners with their hearts pounding in their chests so hard they think they might fall out into the dirt and they woud just run right over them.. i want to hear the noise. i want to watch the top 5 walk up to awards and humbly take their little ribbons and medals while the rest of the kids scream and clap away. i want that.

i want to make Miss Tandy a LITERATURE LIST for school. i get to be the lit teacher this year. if only the students would actually read the works on the list….Romeo and Juliet isn’t that long…

i love certain things today.

i love I ♥ NY shirts. and i don’t even have one. i think i need to get one. that, or make myself an I ♥ IKEA shirt (and i’ve never even been to IKEA…).

i love CHERRY TREE ORCHARDS. i decided yesterday that i will be a writer with a cherry tree orchard. i will sit in my cherry trees and write away. or on my front porch overlooking the orchard typing. i would stroll through it everyday in my J.Crew rainboots. i would pick basketfuls of cherries. i would love living with a cherry tree orchard. and i don’t even really like cherries.

i love the STARS. my Popi taught me how to find the North Star last night. and Orion. and the Big Dipper. and this W. it was marvelous. absolutely marvelous i tell you.

i love JET PUFF today. i love it when we buy it in bulk and i can eat it by the spoonful…now go eat some yourself.

love.

-Bella.dear

the man who gave Macbeth away.

i have been typing away and away and away. my fingers hurt. i like it. but my story made me mad today. i got a bit stuck. it’s fixed now though. i think. it’s hard to write when there are 3 children in the next room doing 3 different things and Miss Tandy is playing a harmonica right beside you. very difficult. sometimes you just need quiet. but i think what i really need is to give George and Josephine a break and work on my novel. for some reason, i can write in my novel when a hundred different things are going on. that’s what i love about it.

(what i really want to write right now is this amazing little piece stuck in my head. it’s been there for a long time. it involves the fair and kisses and tents and vintage dresses.)

Lala mia was recording this amazing song earlier today. i love it. especially this one part that is soooooo marvelous. so marvelous. i love it. i love it. i love it. i just can’t say that enough.

today i wanted to cry. and i didn’t know why. but then if figured it out. the other day when we were in that thrift shop, there was a stack of old books for sale. i wanted them. O so badly. but $5 dollars a book is NOT a steal. really, who wants to pay $5 dollars for one book? not me. and who wants to pay $50 dollars for 10 books? (there was 10 of them…) i just wanted the books.  but that’s not why i wanted to cry. i wanted to cry because someone actually gave those books away. what kind of person would do that? i wish i could meet them. i imagine this man whose father left him those books after he died, and that young man wanted nothing to do those old books. he had no hankering to read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. so he gave them away. and now he’s alone in his father’s house without those books. and one day, when he sits down with his morning cup of coffee and reaches for a book in his father’s book shelf, they won’t be there. it will be empty. kind of sad.

Mr.Dante told me today, “There’s something I like about a man sitting in an empty room in a tuxedo. Especially the part about the empty room…” i think i like that too. my little brother is the best. he’s walking inspiration for my men i write about. and he’s only 8 years old. i wish i had an older brother too. he would be more walking inspiration, but he would be 20 years old. for now, Mr.Dante is enough i suppose. if only ’cause he’s the best.

an odd collaboration of thoughts, i know, but it’s just what’s on my mind today.

in lieu of mentioning  Lala mia and vintage dresses, i’ll show you something i really like right now. 2 of the dresses in Lala’s ETSY shop: icarryourheart. they’re also in Lala’s closet in my house. snatch ‘em up before i plead and cry and make her give them to me. *wink*.

Pink Swing

this one is The Pink Swing. and you can find it here.

DUTCH GIRL

this one is The DUTCH GIRL. and you can find it here.

i like ‘em. and so will you.

a thought for today….don’t give vintage Macbeths away. PLEASE.

love.

-Bella.dear

a recipe for happiness.

yesterday was to be a novel day. but – *blush* – i got a bit distracted. or rather, angry. (Mumsie and Popi were adamant that we clean our room. i.hate.cleaning. so i took on the role of a 2 year old and threw myself a temper fit. and made myself soooooo angry. i wanted to write. but the room is now clean. and just so everyone knows, parents are usually right).

when i’m angry there are things i like to do. i either get out the curling iron and curl my hair for 2 hours straight (which was quite impossible due to the fact that Lala mia was painting the hallway) or i go for a walk (so i went for a walk). Miss Tandy and Franny and i all headed out spiffied and sunscreened up. we had no destination in mind, but 7Eleven became our first stop. we went in and bought ourselves 99¢ Arizona® tea drinks. i got an Arnold Palmer and was happy.

after that we walked past the town fountain and made penny wishes.

then we headed off to a little thrift shop downtown where i found 2! Clare Darcy books and a copy of Fiddler on the Roof. i was even happier after that.

our last stop was the Museum. i ♥ Museums. my favourite part of our’s is when you walk into the room upstairs where they have the doctor’s kits and eye-doctor’s things. old eye-glasses and chairs. leather bags. everything amazing. i like to stand and stare at this photograph on the wall and wish that those old leather bags on top of the shelf were mine.

this picture makes me smile.

we finally made it home after being picked up by Mumsie and running a few errands with her and Lala mia. i wasn’t angry anymore. even though i barely got to work on my novel when we did get back. you see, it’s hard not to fall asleep after walking around in 95° weather for 3 hours – not to mention we had a Smallville marathon the night before till 12 o’clock (i.e. midnight). i think i only wrote 2 sentences. *blush*. but they were good sentences.

so yesterday was not a novel day. it was a happy day. maybe today will be a novel day…

a clean room + a walk + Arizona® Arnold Palmers + penny wishes + 3 books from a thrift store at the steal of 25¢ a book + Museums + 2 sentences in my novel + a nap + some Smallville + time with your 2 little sisters + a painted hallway + homemade bread – acting like a 2 year old = happiness.

and that’s a sure recipe.

{i’m in my pearls and a shirt with a big bow tied around my waist right now.} i just might make today a novel day. it’s not hard to have a novel day when your room is clean and you have a bow around your waist.

love.

-Bella.dear

p.s. today, i want to be able to sing opera so bad i could cry. if i wasn’t going to be a writer, i would probably be an anthropologist. and if i wasn’t going to be an anthropologist, i would be an opera singer. that’s not to say i have the chops for it though. *sigh*. the things i cry over…

.novel.

today is a novel day. i will sit and write in my novel till my fingers kill me and ink stains my hands.

and then i will ride my bicycle with Miss Tandy down to the graffiti trains and the old car lot to take ETSY pictures.

then i will write in my novel again.

and again.

and again.

today is a novel day. i like that idea.

love.

-Bella.dear♥

.tick.tock. introductions to a little clock.

i have a little clock.

"looking down" on my .little.clock.

it sits on my window sill in front of my bottle collection, and right beside my box of jewelry, and is brilliant.

my.little.clock.

i wind it 4 times every morning when i wake up, and 6 times every night when i go to sleep. i ♥♥♥ my little clock.

……………………………………………………………………..

today was beautiful. i wrote in my sweet little novel. and i wrote in my story of Guy. it made me feel good inside. i liked it.

i had Mint Tea today.

i also had toast for breakfast out of homemade bread.

you can only always have beautiful days when there is homemade bread in the kitchen….

………………………………………………………………….

(if you look closely, you can see the reflection of my camera in the face of my .little.clock. “tick.tock” goes the clock….”snap” goes the camera shutter).

-Bella